The Guitar in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

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Figure

1:

The guita a latina, as depicted in the 13th century

~ 5uitar

in

thr

middlr ~ s

and

Rrnaissancr

By Julie

Carmen

Illustrations by Frederick R.

Matzen

In the SCA world there are high stan

dards for recovering and reconstructing

the truth

in

history. Recorded history

detennines how we re-create the Middle

Ages, and it is with much determination

that we search for as many facts as possi

ble for each

of

our varied interests. This

article

seeks

to

clarify

the historical

authenticity of one of the most popular

musical instruments, the guitar.

In preparation for this search, guide

lines had

to

be set

as

to what the Society

deems authentic. Is it more aesthetically

pleasing to see an instrument

as

identical

as

it would have been in the Middle Ages,

even

if

the materials used to create it may

not allow for the best tone, or would it be

pennissible to use finer or modern materi

als to keep a longer-tuned, better tonality

instrument when performing?

It is

the

opinion

of

this author that modern materi

als do not ruin

or change

the sound

or

purpose of an instrument, and that a guitar

should be treated

as

an equal representa

tion of a medival instrument if used in a

performing

arts

competition,

say, up

against a plastic recorder, a modern-day

lute or a ceramic drum.

It

is commonly believed that the lute

is

far

older

than the guitar. Although the

focus

of

this article is on the latter instru

ment, occasional comparisons to the lute

are included to assist the reader in a better

understanding of

the

evolution of

medieval stringed instruments. Despite

the lute' s stronger claim to precedence,

however. there is evidence to suggest that

the guitar-or the ancestor

of

the guitar

is far older than is commonly realized.

Properties of the

Guitar

For the purpose of this article, guitar

is

defined

as an

instrument with

a

nat

back, which produces acoustic sound by

means

of

strings stretched over a wooden

sound box and a fretted neck.'

Robert Paul

Clarke, in his master's

thesis,

A Musical History of the Guitar,

notes that the guitar seemed to appear and

disappear throughout history. He has also

found that the names of identical instru

ments are less than consistent throughout

history.

Not only were there a great many

variations in the nomenclature in the

past, but the variety

of

spellings for

guitar, lute and pandora in present

day works has not been standardized

for future generations. 2

This dilemma is not exclusive to the

instruments mentioned by Clarke. An

excellent

example

can be found

in

approximately

600

A.D., when music

developed in Japan while it declined in

China. The Chinese instrument known as

the

ch'in

was named the

koto

in Japan.

This

instrument has also been named a

Chinese

lute

but

we would name

it

a

long zither.

The

Japanese instrument,

biwa,

was actually the

Chinese

p'ip'a.

The stringed instrument used

by

street

singers and geishas was

called the

samisen

and it is a guitar.' Over the cen

turies, such name-changing makes it very

difficult

to follow

a

steady lineage of

many of the stringed instruments.

In the 14th century in Spain, the guitar

had three other names: the guitarra latina,

the

guitarra maresca,

and the

guitarra

saracena. These instruments are also seen

in the very elaborate Spanish manuscript

of the thirteenth century The Cantigas de

Santa Maria. This manuscript

is

com

prised

of four codices. In the Escorial

Codex B.I.2, fol.

140,

musicians are

depicted playing plucked

lutes,

but

a

source describes the instruments

as

exam

ples

of vihuelas de penola.

In the same

codex, fol. 147 musicians are shown play

ing

plucked lutes, and the same

source

describes them

as

examples of the

guitar

ra latina

and

the guitarra

morisca.'

Another source, however, describes the

same miniature as: Waisted guitar with

five strings and oval guitar with five

divergent strings. 6 As indicated above,

instruments are frequently named lutes

with guitar names added in brackets

or

vice-versa.

Spanish manuscript The Cantigas

e

Santa Maria (1221-1284)

To understand the difference betwee

the lute and the guitar,

it is

helpful

to

know some lineage

of

both instruments

The kithara, from approximately

250

B.C.

would

be considered the

mos

ancient

of

the guitar family.? An exampl

can be seen on an Attic vase, c 500 B.C.

at Kassel, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen.

Although it had no neck,

it

did posse

seven

strings stretched over

a

woode

body with a flat back.

The kithara supports strings on a

frame and

the

guitar supports its

strings on a neck, which has no bear

ing

on the acoustics

of

the instru

ment; only in the appearance.

9

The ancestor

of

the lute family is con

sidered by some to be the lyra from 125

B.C.

The lyra

first

developed

by tyin

strings across a tortoise shell, thus creat

ing a rounded-back instrument which (s

the theory goes) later developed into th

lute. An example

of

the long-necked lut

can be seen

on

a

tomb of Nakht nea

Thebes, 15th century B.C.

O

Although many authors will call th

same instrument either a guitar-like or

lute-l ike instrument, it can be safe t

consider an instrument with a flat back

strings, fretted neck. and sound holes t

be a

member

of

the guitar

family. A

instrument with the same attributes sav

for a

rounded

back would be considere

to be

of

the lute family. The shape

of

th

back is the distinguishing feature, as th

acoustic effect is shared by both types

o

instrument.

It

may be argued that another factor t

consider when characterizing an instru

ment is the manner in which it was tuned

The kithara was tuned in what are calle

tetra chords,

a

succession of fou

descending notes consisting nonnally of

whole tone. A standard tuning

of

the pre

sent-day guitar is much the same, but wit



3rd thrown in. The six-string guitar,

as

A popular tuning

of

the lute is almost

same, except that it has one less

12

Thus, if the guitar and the lute

to strum the same chord or

c

can be played

Form

is the

of

the

a certain

of

different

forms to

that tuning

is

not

a

sufficient

Another challenge states that in order

have

six

strings. The number of

courses,

however.

does not

of strings

and

courses have

been

an instrument is described as

a four course guitar, this means

modern day 6-string guitar has six

f

it is a 12-string guitar, it would

as a six course guitar.

Moreover, the same challenge has not

of

lute has five courses,

of

vihuela

became very

J In his treatise,

Tratado

e

(published in Osuna, Spain

of

the two instruments by imply

a

guitar or

a

you take

off

or put on courses,

or

add strings) and keep the corre

4

Confusion abounds, because stringed

of

the challenge and thrill

of

being

sixteenth century?

#129,

Winter

1999

Figure 2: Guitar-like instrument depicted on a stone relief

c. 1400 B.C.

at

the New Hittite Empire settlement, Alaja Huyuk.

The similarities between the

guitarra

latina

in

The Cantigas de Santa Maria

(1221-1284). (see Figure 1 , and the gui

tar-like instrument depicted on a stone

relief on a gate

of

1400 B.C. are worthy

of

notice. The latter is said to be one

of

the earliest known representations

of

the

guitar with all

of

its basic characteristics.

This stone

relief is found at the New

Hittite Empire settlement at Alaja Huyuk

which is located in Anatolia.

5

The follow

ing features are found on both instru-

ments: curved or waisted sides, held

against the body (showing that it has a flat

back). The instrument is held by a neck,

which appears to have frets. Sound holes

are evident, with the

Cantigas

showing a

single central sound hole, and the Hittite

stone relief showing eight to ten small

sound holes. In the latter, the holes num

ber four or five above and below the neck,

and strings are stretched along the neck

on the flat body

of

the instrument

l6

(see

Figure 2). These two figures indicate that

the guitar has been around since 1400

B.C.. and developed even more popularity

during the 13th century.

The Guitar Throughout

History

The name guitar is a modification

of

the Greek word

kithara.

Its present-day

form is more likened to the late Roman

kithara

form, which dates from around

2500 B.C. There is a carving from the

first century A.D.

of

a guitar-like instru

ment

found in

the

Russian

Buddhist

monastery at Airtam near Termez. It can

now be located in the Hermitage Museum

at Leningrad.

17

An

excellent example from

the 3rd century A.D can be seen from a

limestone sarcophagus found near Arles.

I t

shows a

kithara

beside a side view

of

a

full-bodied lute. This tomb appears to be

that

of

a musician, and the remains

of

a

plectrum were also found.

8

From this it is

clear that an instrument with a flat, wood

en

back

and strings

over

a sound hole

existed in the time period leading up to

the Middle Ages.

Bowed

and plucked stringed instru

ments with flat backs have been used for

thousands

of years. The

rebec crowd

chrotta

and Welsh

crwth

all enjoyed pop

ularity in the Middle Ages. The lineage

of

such instruments seems to start with the

rotta

or

chrotta.

Venantius Fortunatus mentioned the

chrotta

in the sixth century.19 An example

of

a seventh century

chrotta

can be seen

at the London, British Museum.

I t

was

excavated at the Sutton Hoo ship burial,

and shows a rectangular wooden instru

ment

with a

flat back

and six strings.

There are two small sound holes on the

lower

half

on the flat body.

U

The

rotta

was plucked with a plectrum, with the fin

gers or was bowed. The Sutton Hoo

chrotta

was also called a

choros.

The 'w'

was pronounced as

00

in Welsh. hence

the many

names

for

the same

type of

instrument have been identified as:

chrot-

ta rotta cruit rerotte

and

croud.

2

The examples above trace the lineage

from the Greek

kithara

and the Roman

kithara

down to the modern-day guitar, so

far

as

the question

of

a

flat back and

strings over sound holes are concerned.

Note also that during this same ancient

time there existed the Egyptian instrument

referred to above

as

the long-necked lute.

In approximately 800 A.D. the bow

became popular, developing into

many

stages and sizes with no set tuning as

standard. Bowed instruments from this

time can be classified into several groups:

the

rebec

the

croud

the medieval viol,

and the fiddle. The word 'fiddle' was used

to cover all these categories throughout

this time period. There is much pictoral

evidence showing instruments which were

normally picked being bowed, and vice

versa. In essence,

it

depended on what

effect the musician wanted to achieve.

22

For

example,

a

manuscript

from 1000

B.C., depicts King David with a 3-

stringed

bowed rotta

with a flat back.

This manuscript is now in the collection

of

the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.

23

The

crwth

is recorded as a six-stringed

bowed instrument, and the earliest illus

tration is from the 11 th century A. D.

Later, in the 12th century, illustrations

depict the rectangular-shaped

crwth

with

Continued

on

ncxt pagc

...

9



a fingerboard and a bow. This instrument

is generally considered part

of the violin

family, and was used in Wales up until

the nineteenth century. Other names for

this type of instrument include: Irish-crot

or cruit, Latin-chorus, and the Anglicized

version-crowd.

24

In relation to the wooden. flat-backed

concept, we

can

look to

the

Rerotte

which was used from approximately the

eighth to the fourteenth centuries and has

been described as a type

of

psaltry.

Psaltrys were also called zithers, and were

plucked and/or hammered.

2

' The psaltry is

an instrument of

various

number of

strings, the most popular had ten. The two

forms known possessed either a square

box or triangular box and of course, the

flat back. A typical description

of

the

shape of the psaltry can be found by the

early Church writers of St. Augustine,

11 th century AD.; It should not be in the

shape of a kithara, but

in

the shape of a

square shield

with ten strings."26

The

description of the psaltry can be found in

biblical references as well. For our pur

pose, we can also see the psaltry many

times in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.

In addition to the crwth, the croud or

crowd. the rerotte or psaltry, the kithara,

and the chrotta or rotta, SCA members

can also look to the vihuela, the citole, the

gittern, and the guittara latina to see the

process of the guitar.

The Gate of Glory by Master Mateo

(1188 A D), located at the Church

of

Santiago de Compostela

in

Spain, shows a

guitar-shaped instrument believed

to

be

the original vihuela.

27

Although there are

sources that relate the guitar to its bowed

cousins the viol family, there is no bow

with this instrument on the Gate. It is

noted that after 100 years there

were

many different vihuelas, and some did not

use a bow. The vihuela was actually a

guitar, but had a shorter and wider neck. It

also had the waisted or curved sides and a

flat back. The tuning was identical to the

Renaissance lute.

28

The

citole

is described as a stringed

instrument, sometimes made with a flat

back and sometimes with a vulted back,

depending on the preference of the cre

ator. 29 It is said by some to be the ancestor

of the gittern and is noted for its apparent

holly-leaf shape, with a flat back.

D

It is

seen quite frequently throughout docu

ments from the 13th through the 16th cen

turies. Tinctoris (1435-1511), a music the

orist of his day from Italy, mentions the

citole in a list

of

various instruments.

3

Another reference suggests that the citole

is the ancestor

of

the

cittern.

2

Tinctoris,

in his treatise

De Inventine et

Usu

Musical (1487), describes the citole as

having four brass or steel strings, a flat

back, and a fretted

neck

..1.1 Geoffrey

Chaucer (1343-1400 AD.) mentions the

citole in his Canterbury story, The

Knightes Tale.

4

The gittern is northern Europe's ver

sion of

the

southern guitar. t too is

described as possessing

holly-leaf

or

winged-shaped upper bouts with a flat

back, fretted

neck, and (usually)

four

strings. A picture

of

the Comation of the

Virgin (1310 AD.), depicts an angel with

a four-stringed gittem.'s One source states

that the citole was called a gittem prior to

1977.

'6

Juan Ruiz 0280-1350), Archpriest of

Hita, names two instruments in his Libro

de Buen Amor,

the

guitarra morisca

and

the

guitarra

latina. "They

were

both

known to have been played at the court of

the Duke of Normandy in

1349. 37

The

guitarra latina is described as possessing

curved sides or parallel sides and a flat

back and

is

also said to have been called a

gittem. An example of a gittern can be

seen on a roof boss of the mid-14th centu

ry

AD.

in the Angel Choir of Gloucester

Cathedra1." Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400

A.D.) mentions

the

gittern

in

his

Canterbury story, The Milleres Tale.

39

The Cantigas de Santa Maria has

splendid examples of the instruments

played in the court of Alfonzo the Wise,

King of Castile and Leon (1221-1284).

Several examples of

the guittara latina

can be seen as well as the citole, lute, cit

tern, and all sizes and shapes

of

medieval

fiddles, and psalteries:

o

A stone carving

of the guittara latina can be seen in the

West Portal of Leon Cathedral. It is of a

crowned musican playing the guitarra

latina from the 14th century AD

More information about the

vihuela

is

mentioned in the poetry of the Archpriest

of Hila (1283-1350). He lists many instru

ments, among them the

vihuela and the

atambores (called the Moorish and the

Latin guitar).42 In the Renaissance there

were three popular vihuelas in use in

Spain, each played a bit differently: the

vihuela de pendola (played with a plec

trum), the vihuela de arco (played with a

bow), and the vihuela de mana (played by

the hand). By the sixteenth century the

popular one, the vihuela de mano, was

used

the

most.

43

Note again that the

vihuela was actually a guitar.

44

A mural painting by Anton Sanchez of

the 14th century, illustrates a guitar. It is

entitled Angel playing a guitar, and can

be viewed at the

Old

Cathedral,

Salamanca:'

An angel musician plays a

six-course

viola de mana

which is from

the painting Madonna and Child with St

Anne by Gerolamo dai Libri (1474-1555

AD.).'" A picture showing the vihuela

seen from Luis Milan's music book, E

Maestro, or 1535 AD. entitled depictin

Orpheus serenading animals and birds o

a vihuela.

More

examples

of the

guitar

in th

16th century can be seen in the following

• An engraving by Morcantoni

Raimondi, 1510 AD. showing the poe

Philotes playing an arched-back

viole d

mano; 7

another source

for the sam

engraving says

the

title is called Th

Guitar Player:

s

• An engraving attributed to Tobia

Stimmer (1539-84), called, A Lad

Playing a Four-Course Guitar:

9

• An angel musician playing a vihuel

de mano: detail from the 15th centur

retable, attributed to Maestro Perea, in th

Hermitage of St. Anne, Jative, Valencia.'o

There appears to be less documentatio

about the guitar than the lute throughou

history. This could be because of culture

gender, and religion. Some instrument

favored in court while others were use

more often by common folk, and wer

thus more likely be documented. There

evidence that the four course guitar wa

popular

in

the city and country, but the si

course guitar, the vihuela, was the instru

ment most likely used for courts and roya

musicians. The

common

folk used th

four-string guitar whereas the vihuela

noted as being the instrument of "elegan

and polite society."'l

By 1555

AD.,

there appears to be

transition

of

the

vihuela.

It had six cour

es, the five lower strings doubled and th

top one single, just like the lute. It

referred to as the Spanish

guita

However,

the guitar of the

commo

folk-the four course guitar---eventuall

had a fifth string added, a total of eleve

strings, and was called the

Spanis

guitar.

5

Hence the vihuela, the six-cours

guitar, or the lute (all names for a similia

instrument), has more documentation tha

the common four-course guitar.

Religion is also a possible factor, a

can be seen when the lute was introduce

to Spain and was considered

by

th

Spanish to be "heathen." The evidenc

suggests that the guitar was favored ove

the lute in 8th century Spain.

53

Gender may well have been anothe

factor. Ancient African drawings depic

the long-necked lute, and

it

is usuall

played by a woman. This could be a resu

of the apparent lightness of the instru

ment.

S4

Tinctoris (1435-1511), mention

in his 12th treatise, book IV, chapters 4

5, that the guitar was not used very muc

because it had a thin tone. He adds that

seemed to be played by women rathe

then men, and that the Catalans used th

ccournamcnts'JUuminaN



guitar mainly in accompaniment for love

songs."

Conclusion

There

is

widespread evidence through

out history to suggest that the gui tar quali

fies as

an authentic

instrument

for

the

Society's period of re-enactment. Indeed,

it may be argued that the guitar is even an

ancient

instrument which has been identi

fied by

many names throughout many

countries, always evolving with the cul

tures that dominate it. As the history is

continually investigated, more evidence

may yet come to light.

I also ask others to share

what

they

may find to add to this brief collection for

the "authentic guitar." I hope these few

pages will encourage more A&S competi

tion with the guitar, and more research

into music written for the instrument.

There is much that has not yet been trans

lated, including ancient music . I encour

age anyone who has the ability, to bring

to us the transcripts

of

music that included

the guitar. Be proud as you perform with

this venerable instrument; it has survived

much •

Notes

IMichael Kasha has used the

tar

family

to categorize the lute, the guitar, and the

tanbur in the same family structure. The

tar

family is based on instruments which

possess a single fretted neck with strings.

I encourage anyone who has interest to

read his article. It can be located in the

Guitar Review,

GR-30, 1968.

2Clarke, 1983, p. 6

3Clarke, 1983, p.

25

4Katz and Keller, 1981, p. 20 I

'Katz and Keller, 1981, p. 221

6Montagu, 1976, p. 28

7Remnant, 1978

8Geiringer, 1943

9Clarke, 1983, p. 72

IUSahs, 1943

llFinney, p 12, 1935

12There

were several popular tunings

of

the lute during the Middle Ages and

Rennaissance. The example used here is

just one

of

several possibilities.

13Evans and Evans, 1977

14Clarke, 1983

15Clarke,

1983; Sendry, 1969; Katz and

Keller, 1981; Kasha, 1968

16Kasha,

1968

17Remnant, 1978

"Huges and Abraham, 1964

19C1arke, 1983

2°Geiringer, 1943, p 20;

Montagu,

1976, p 13; Remnant,1978, p 20

21Montagu, 1976

22Remnant, 1978

Issue #129, Winter 1999

23Montagu, 1976, P 14

24Huges

and Abraham, 1964

"Clarke, 1983

26Huges

and Abraham, 1964

27Clarke,

1983, p 72

28Kasha, 1968

29Montagu, 1976

3°Wilkins, 1980

31Gustave, 1959

"Monrow, 1976

)3Monrow, 1976, Wilkins, 1980, p 150

)4Wright, 1883, p 67

"This picture is

now

at the British

Library. (Montagu, 1976)

36Wilkins, 1980

37Remnant, 1978, p 36

"'Remnant, 1978

)9Wright, 1883, p

101

4°Montagu, 1976; Katz and Keller, 1981

41Evans

and Evans, 1977, p 19

4

2

Ribera, p 156

4JMontagu, 1976

44Kasha, 1968

"Evans and Evans, 1977, p 19

46Evans

and Evans, 1977, P 20

47Evans


48Geiringer, 1965, plate XXII

49Evans

and Evans, 1977, p 22

50Evans


'lEvans and Evans, 1977

"Clarke, 1983

"Huges

and Abraham, 1964

5

4

S

a

hs, 1943, p 65

"Gustave, 1959

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Music

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the

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Ann.

Guitars;

Music,

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and

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Musical

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Sahs, Curt.

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Sendrey, Alfred. Music in Ancient Israel.

New York:

Philosophical Library,

1969.

Wilskins, Nigel.

Music

in the Age of

Chaucer.

D.S.Brewer, 1980.

Wright, Thomas, Esq.

The Poetical Works

of Geoffrey Chaucer. New York: The

American News Company, 1883.

Julie Carmen

2 South Gay Drive,

Longmont, CO 80501. Please contact with

comments

at:

[email protected])

has

two cats, Maurice

and

Montclair, enjoys

guitar playing, piano, and singing. She works

as a development assistant for the Boulder

Philharmonic. She also maintains a Host

Home

for

one person with developmental

dis-

abilities.

Althea

ni

Cullaugh is

a 10th century

Celtic

woman who

learned

to

play

the

chrotta

in

Ireland. Later, through travels

in

the East,

she learned to play the 3-chorus guitar. She

also

enjoys needpoint work

and herbal

crafts.

11

The Guitar in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Documents